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tabling member printed

Diana Johnson

tabling member constituency

Kingston upon Hull North

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To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of employment
support allowance assessment meetings were carried out (a) at the claimant’s home
and (b) in assessment centres in the last 12 months.

<p>Between August 2018 and July 2019, 2.2 per cent of face-to-face Work Capability
Assessments for Employment and Support Allowance claims were carried out at the claimant’s
home and 97.8 per cent were carried out in an assessment centre.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate
of the number of claimants of universal credit that have fallen into (a) council
tax and (b) local authority rent arrears after transitioning from legacy benefits.

<p>We have not made an assessment of this nature, we do not hold the data requested
for council tax arrears and any change in rent arrears is not solely attributed to
Universal Credit.</p><p>The initial analytical work we have carried out with a single
housing provider suggests that many tenants are arriving on Universal Credit with
pre-existing rent arrears, supporting research carried out by the National Federation
of ALMOs which shows over three quarters of their tenants come onto Universal Credit
with pre-existing rent arrears. It also shows that arrears tend to increase prior
to making a claim for Universal Credit, and that Universal Credit actually appears
to be helping to clear arrears over time. We are currently extending this analysis
to include a number of housing providers. It will be published when completed.</p><p>
</p><p>We have responded to concerns in this area by putting a number of safeguards
in place – 100 per cent advances repayable over 12 months, increasing to 16 months
in October 2021; a two-week transition to Universal Credit Housing Payment; a new
Help to Claim service; and Managed Payment to Landlord Arrangements, which allow for
payments direct to the landlord if the tenant is likely to have difficulty in managing
their rent payments, is unlikely to pay their rent or is in rent arrears equivalent
to two months.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had
with local authority leaders on the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on
the level of demand for councils’ Local Welfare Provision schemes.

<p>The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has regular contact with a range of
partner organisations concerning Universal Credit including representatives from local
government.</p><p>The reforms to the Social Fund in 2013 allowed local authorities
in England and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales to deliver their
own local provision for people who are in need of urgent help. Local authorities are
best placed to decide how to target flexible help to support local welfare needs.</p><p>We
passed funding over to local authorities and devolved administrations from April 2013.
This gave them maximum flexibility to deliver services as they see fit according to
local needs.</p><p>New Burdens funding has been provided to councils to cover additional
costs associated with Universal Credit. In 2017/18 the Department paid £13m in New
Burdens funding and paid £14m in New Burdens for 2018/19. Last year we worked with
a number of Local Authorities to refresh these costs resulting in £18m in New Burdens
being paid in 2019/20. 67 Local Authorities received a total of £4.7m in extra payments
to recognise alleged additional costs caused in the early stages of roll out.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he
will take steps to help ensure that local authorities provide funding for local welfare
assistance schemes after 2020.

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he she has made an assessment
of the potential merits of extending the repayment period for universal credit advance
payments beyond twelve months.

<p>Universal Credit new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial
need, which can be accessed urgently, until their first UC payment is due. Claimants
can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay
back over a period of up to 12 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department has taken a number
of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that recovery arrangements
are personalised and reasonable. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed
40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance and does not reduce other components
of an award, such as money paid for children, housing or when someone is caring for
a severely disabled person. From October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent
and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from
12 to 16 months.</p><p> </p><p>The Department more broadly wants to ensure that vulnerable
claimants receive the financial support they need, which is why we announced the addition
of SDP payments. By August 29th, we had already paid over 6,300 claims, which together
are worth over £16 million.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made
against his Department’s commitment, as set out in the 2018 Loneliness Strategy, to
test methods that will improve how a range of organisations, such as community pharmacies,
social workers and community nurses, refer into existing social prescribing services
and provision in 2019-20.

<p>The Government’s Loneliness Strategy ‘A connected society: A Strategy for tackling
loneliness – laying the foundations for change’, acknowledged that tackling loneliness
is complex and a long-term challenge, requiring action across many fronts and working
with local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses
to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness and build more integrated communities.</p><p>Discussions
are underway with a range of public sector organisations such as job centres, local
authorities, Public Health England and National Health Service agencies to identify
what more can be done to improve how they better refer into social prescribing services
and provision.</p><p>In addition, social workers play a key role in referring people
into community services and the co-chair of the Principal Social Worker network sits
on the National Social Prescribing network to promote their work and share learning.</p><p>The
Department expects to report on the outcome of this commitment in late autumn.</p><p><strong>
</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made
against his Department’s commitment, as set out in the 2018 Loneliness Strategy, to
improve knowledge sharing among social workers through the Chief Social Worker for
Adults to develop social workers’ (a) ability to recognise people who may be experiencing
loneliness and (b) their knowledge and services or support to refer people on to.

<p>The Government’s Loneliness Strategy ‘A connected society: A Strategy for tackling
loneliness – laying the foundations for change,’ acknowledged that tackling loneliness
is complex and a long-term challenge, requiring action across many fronts and working
with local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses
to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness and build more integrated communities.</p><p>The
Government has commissioned an evidence review to support the Chief Social Worker
for Adults’ commitment in the Loneliness Strategy, to improve knowledge sharing among
social workers and recognition and support for people who may be experiencing loneliness.</p><p>The
review summarises the evidence into key messages and recommendations for social workers,
other social care practitioners and employers. The Department will publish the review
in the summer – this will inform specific guidance for social workers to ensure that
they include loneliness in their assessment and care planning and that they also contribute
to community development and other projects that can help tackle loneliness.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made
against his Department’s commitment, as set out in the 2018 Loneliness Strategy, for
Public Health England to reach one million members of the public with information
on loneliness as a key risk factor for mental health problems.

<p>The Government’s Loneliness Strategy ‘A connected society: A Strategy for tackling
loneliness – laying the foundations for change’, acknowledged that tackling loneliness
is complex and a long-term challenge, requiring action across many fronts and working
with local government, public services, the voluntary and community sector and businesses
to identify opportunities to tackle loneliness and build more integrated communities.</p><p>The
Every Mind Matters campaign was piloted in the Midlands in October 2018 and will be
launched across England in October 2019. The campaign launch can be viewed at the
following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-launches-new-mission-to-put-prevention-at-the-top-of-the-mental-health-agenda"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-launches-new-mission-to-put-prevention-at-the-top-of-the-mental-health-agenda</a></p><p>The
Midlands campaign can be viewed at the following link:</p><p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-mental-health-campaign-launched-across-the-midlands"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-mental-health-campaign-launched-across-the-midlands</a></p><p>The
campaign aims to help people become better informed and equipped to look after their
own mental health and contains advice on the impact of loneliness on mental health,
promotes the benefits of social connection and facilitates self-care to improve mental
health by offering personalised action plans.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the 2018
Loneliness Strategy, what steps his Department has taken to work with the Loneliness
Action Group to share learning on loneliness and ensure effective implementation of
the strategy.

<p>The Government has engaged closely with the Loneliness Action Group in the development
of and now implementation of its loneliness strategy. Government officials have regularly
attended the quarterly Loneliness Action Group meetings, to share updates and hear
the group's views. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport and Civil
Society (Mims Davies MP), who leads the Government's work on loneliness, spoke at
the Loneliness Action Group conference in May 2019.</p>

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people with (a)
sickle cell disease and (b) sickle cell disease and (i) stroke, (ii) chronic kidney
disease, (iii) end-stage renal disease and (iv) pulmonary hypertension received social
care support in the latest period for which figures are available; and what the annual
cost is of providing that support to people in each of those groups.